


Double Standard

by mystyrust



Series: Ectober 2020 [6]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dani mention, Ectober (Danny Phantom), Ectober Week 2020 (Danny Phantom), Gen, Light Swearing, Post D-Stabilized, Valerie's POV, but its brief, the valerie we deserve, valerie finds out phantom is half ghost, warning for jokes about death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27293776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystyrust/pseuds/mystyrust
Summary: Ectober week 2020Day 6:Glowsticks/ redruMAfter learning about the existence of half ghosts, Valerie has too many questions. The only one she can possibly ask is Phantom.post d-stabilized, no pp. The Valerie arc we deserve.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Valerie Gray
Series: Ectober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985209
Comments: 13
Kudos: 206





	Double Standard

**Author's Note:**

> warning for suicide mention

Dani was half human, and in her desire for revenge against Phantom, Valerie was almost complicit in murder. Valerie’s meeting with Dani raised so many thoughts that she never thought to question before – and Valerie suspected that Phantom had most of the answers – or, he thought through some of those questions.

Questions like: why was Dani homeless? Why was Vlad Masters – a half-ghost half-human like Dani – doing the experiments that he did?

Valerie didn’t know how to contact Phantom – it’s not like she had his phone number or anything – but the next time she met him came sooner than expected; a ghost was causing trouble downtown and the two of them had to work together to take it down.

“Red! On your left!”

Valerie dodged some debris that came towards her from her blind spot.

For whatever reason, some ghost was stealing from the bank – a bank that was not equipped to handle ghostly thieves. It was strange – ghosts could phase through any human security, and thereby had no need for human wealth, so why was this one stealing from a bank? The ghostly thief put up a good fight against both Phantom and Valerie, throwing debris and ectoblasts at them left and right, before attacking an apartment building as a diversion tactic. 

The ectoblast hit some wiring box and the building caught fire. The ghost, realizing what a golden opportunity it had struck upon, sent more ectoblasts towards the building, each one bigger and more fiery than the last. Phantom and Valerie managed to block a few hits, but it wasn’t long before the entire building caught on fire.

“Red! I’ll get the people out and stop the fire! You stop the ghost!”

“But –!”

“The fire won’t hurt me! And I trust you to catch the ghost!”

Phantom didn’t wait around for Valerie’s answer or permission – he turned invisible and dove straight into the building. She couldn’t believe she was trusting a ghost to rescue humans, but she would take what she could get.

It was definitely harder to catch this ghost alone. She kept chasing till they were both outside city limits, hoping to ground its flight by firing with her ecto-guns, while dodging its own attacks that were targetting her. Once there were no more pedestrians or property around, Valerie let her arsenal loose – homing missiles, electrocution nets, paralyzing darts, the full works.

Eventually, Phantom showed up as she got tired of interrogating the ghost. He unhooked one of the Fenton thermoses from his belt, and sucked up the ghost from the ground. Once the ghost was securely trapped inside the thermos, Phantom let out a deep breath, his shoulders sagging with relief.

 _He doesn’t consider me a threat. His guard is down. I could easily –_ Valerie entertains the thought, but decides against it. She had an uneasy truce with Phantom. Ever since she found out Vlad Masters was a half-human half-ghost, she started getting more anti-ghost weapons from Phantom.

“Good work, Red Huntress,”

“Thanks,” She acknowledges somberly. And now that she had a chance to talk to him, she acted fast, before he disappeared again. And there was no one around to overhear them,…so…

“You’re one too, aren’t you? A half-human?”

Phantom made a sputtering noise of surprise.

“What?! Psssht no of course not why would you even –”

“You’re a terrible liar.” Phantom’s voice squeaked way too much and he denied it way too fast for Valerie’s assumption to be anything but the truth.

“Besides,” she added. “You’re cousin is half-ghost. And so is Vlad. Is it really so far-fetched to assume you might be one too?”

“You got me,” Phantom admitted, his arms lowered in defeat. “But you can’t tell anyone!”

“Why not?” Phantom’s worried face made her realize how badly that came out. “I meant, why don’t you tell others you’re half ghost? Wouldn’t the town hate you less if they knew you were human, too?”

“Valerie, I think they would hate me more.” Phantom admitted. “I’m a freak of nature, I’m not supposed to exist! I’m sure the government would love to sink their knives in me and find out why I do.”

Valerie grimaced. Not too long ago, so would she.

“Then why not expose Vlad? The mayor that no one likes is a freak, everyone’s gonna hate him after that, right?”

“That’s not gonna work either. Anyone outs him, he outs me. Then the government takes me away, my family would probably hate me, and my friends would never see me again.”

Something about those words felt off. Not the fact that he still had living family - Valerie guessed as much when she thought about it - but something else. 

“No one needs to invade my every move. When I’m human I’m under the radar. And when I go ghost, I escape the problems of my human life. No need for those to mix,”

Valerie pondered Phantom’s words in silence.

“Someone knows your half human, don’t they? They know who you are, when you aren’t Phantom.”

Classic terrible liar Phantom can’t deny it.

“Well, as long as you have a support system that you can trust.” Valerie shrugged, before returning to a nonchalant, casual silence. Phantom was visibly surprised by that.

“You… don’t want to know who I am? When I’m not Phantom?”

“I’m not gonna lie, I am curious. But I’m not sure I care enough to find out right now. Besides, I work together with you, but I’m still working on getting over my grudges.”

Valerie’s hatred of ghosts – specifically Phantom – came from the time that Phantom’s pet ghost dog ruined the state of the art security system her father had developed for a high profile client. It cost him his job, and Valerie’s social life was never the same again. She worked several jobs to make ends meet, her grades tanked, and she missed the material comforts of her old lifestyle. It was odd of her to be working together with Phantom, after hating him for so long that she wanted to kill him a second time.

“I..” Phantom took in a deep breath. (He can breathe?)

“I know I can’t change what I’ve done. I’ve made mistakes. I’m sorry that I’ve hurt you. You have every right to be angry at me, and I’m sure no amount of sorrys will make up for what happened and –”

Truthfully, Valerie wasn’t as mad at the ghost dog incident as much anymore. She’d seen the ghost dog behave well on the numerous occasions she was spying on Phantom, and she realized – especially today – how ill equipped humans were to deal with ghostly predators. In fact, she was the lucky one for owning as much anti-ghost technology as she did. But she couldn’t let her anger go easily, and she needed a reason to keep going, to keep antagonizing Phantom, no matter how flimsy.

“ – and maybe that’s why you’re the perfect person to ask this.” Phantom continued. “Valerie. If I ever,…if I ever go over to the wrong side, cross a line and do something so unforgivable,” He gulped.

“I want you to…hold me accountable. End me, if you have to.”

It was Valerie’s turn to be visibly shocked.

“Phantom what the fuck.”

“I don’t – Ugh! I don’t want to turn out like Vlad, okay! Or worse!”

“Is that why you gave me ghost weapons even when I didn’t ask?!”

“Well, yeah.”

“Phantom are you suicidal or something.”

“That’s how I died the first time.”

“Phantom!” Valerie yelled. “I’m being serious! I don’t even know how that works since you’re half human and so you’re probably only half dead?!”

She felt like pulling her hair out in frustration. Luckily it was covered by her mask, so she resigned to gripping her head tightly. Phantom was so full of contradictions. And then she remembered how Phantom convinced her to save Dani.

“When we saved Dani, you asked me how I could justify taking part in the destruction of a human,” Valerie huffed out in anger. “You appealed to my humanity. So now, why appeal to my anger? Why the double standard?”

“Because I’m afraid of what I could become. I ruined your life on accident. What if I ruined other people’s lives on purpose?”


End file.
